Individuals are required to file an FD Statement once they “qualify” as a candidate by raising or spending more than $5,000 in a campaign for election to the House of Representatives. If you receive a notice to file a Statement before you have raised or spent more than $5,000 on the campaign, you should notify the Clerk of the House in writing or through the electronic filing system that the campaign has not yet crossed the $5,000 threshold. You may use the form included as Appendix E in these instructions to make the notification to the Clerk. See “Where to File” for the mailing address for the Clerk.

Funds loaned to a campaign from any source, including from the candidate, as well as funds expended for state filing fees, count toward the $5,000 threshold. However, only funds raised or spent in the election cycle in which you are a candidate ( i.e ., the two-year period consisting of the calendar year of the election and the prior calendar year) are considered to determine whether you have qualified as a candidate. For example, if you are running as a candidate for the House in an election to be held on November 6, 2018, only funds raised or spent in the current election cycle (2017 and 2018) count toward the $5,000 threshold. Any campaign funds carried over from the prior election cycle in which you were a candidate do not count toward the $5,000 threshold.

Candidates who never exceed the $5,000 threshold are not required to file an FD Statement.

Qualifying candidates are required to file no more than one candidate FD Statement for any calendar year in which they qualify as a candidate.

Filing Deadlines for Candidates: The deadline for filing the FD Statement depends on whether you qualify as a candidate in an election or non-election year. . . .

If you qualify during a non-election (odd- numbered) year, then you must file an FD Statement within 30 days of becoming a candidate or May 15 of that year, whichever is later. You are then required to file a second Statement on May 15 of the following year if you are still a candidate on that date. If you lose a primary election or formally withdraw, as explained below, before May 15, 2018, then you are not required to file the second Statement.

This apparently lackluster fundraising may actually not be a bad thing. Back in 2000, when Minnesota's Fourth District Congresswoman Betty McCollum and former state senator Steve Novak, then the powerful Jobs and Energy committee chair, vied for the DFL endorsement to replace a retiring (and dying) Bruce Vento, Novak was scolded by Common Cause for fundraising for the federal race while the legislature was in session. While not illegal (since the state campaign finance board can only regulate state campaigns), the clean politics group believed the practice to be unethical.

Her interest in campaign finance reform has had personal consequences. She declined to accept any PAC or lobbying money during the legislative session, and had raised just over $5,000 at the end of March, the least of any fourth-district candidate. McCollum says that has to change soon. "After the end of the session, my fundraising strategy will change. I made a commitment to not take PAC or lobbyist money during session, but the groups that endorsed me, I will after session look forward to sitting down and putting together an aggressive financial plan." . . .

For his part, fifth-term State Senator Steve Novak maintains he's the most-electable candidate against a Republican, with or without the DFL party behind him. He points to the fact that he's raised about $130,000 so far and to his endorsements from the Teamsters and building trades. . . .

We're not close enough to Miller, vice-chair of the Minnesota House Agriculture Finance Committee, to know if ethical constraints are causing him to refrain from legal fundraising. After all, Peterson's only committee assignment is on the House Agriculture Committee, where he is the ranking member for the Democrats, and so perhaps agriculture PACs and their allies are loathe to switch horses as the new Farm Bill negotiations get underway.

President Donald J. Trump on May 23 proposed a fiscal year 2018 budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at $137 billion (budget authority), down $12 billion, or 8%, from an estimated $149 billion in F.Y. 2017, and outlined budget aims over the next 10 years that would sharply reduce expenditures and even eliminate a number of long-standing programs.

Leaders of the congressional agriculture committees pushed back against several of the more draconian proposals, which were roundly panned by farm and nutrition organizations. . . .

. . .Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the administration’s 2018 spending blueprint fails to recognize agriculture’s current financial challenges or its historical contribution to deficit reduction.

Trump’s spending blueprint also sets a clash with the next federal farm bill, due for renewal in 2018. It would cut $231 billion in all from farm programs over the next decade — in addition to the food stamp cuts, it would cut federal crop insurance by more than one-third.

The proposal “should be of concern to all rural Americans,” said Minnesota U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. That will make him a key figure in the looming debate; Peterson has been a vigorous defender of crop insurance as a vital safety net for farmers.

“Going down this path all but guarantees there will be no new farm bill,” Peterson said.

Miller's current state Economic Interest Statement (EIS) is found here at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure site. The reporting requirements are not the same as for the federal office, so this document is not entirely predictive of what the federal filing will contain. The employer listed on the January 2017 document closed in July 2016, according to the West Central Tribune.

Photo: Probably our favorite Tim Miller photo, via Facebook in 2014.

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Though Minnesota's temperatures have dropped, our political climate is heating up, with a new administration moving into the White House and Republicans back in control of the Minnesota Legislature.

If you enjoy Bluestem's take on the news--and our investigative blogging--please consider throwing some spare change into our paypal account. Bluestem relies on reader contributions to continue publishing.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Dec 31, 2016

The Swift County Monitor reports that Minnesota House Public Safety Chair Tony Cornish would like to lease the closed private prison in Appleton--and that Corrections Corporation of America has rebranded itself as CoreCivic.

Swift County is already gearing up to make another effort to get the State of Minnesota to lease or buy the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton.

At the county board’s meeting Dec. 19, Commissioner Gary Hendrickx, District 1-Appleton, reported that he and Commission Chair Pete Peterson, District 3-south Benson, had attended a meeting of representatives of lobbying firm Goff Public and CoreCivic, the owner of the prison.

CoreCivic is the new name of Corrections Corporation of America, the country’s largest owner of private prison facilities. It changed its name this past fall. . . .

Also at the meeting was District 17A state Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, and state Senator-elect Andrew Lang, R-Olivia. The meeting was called to formulate a strategy for lobbying the Legislature during the 2017 session. . . .

It has been estimated that reopening the prison would create 350 jobs for western Minnesota, have a $13 to $15 million payroll, and provide a significant boost to the local economies of the many small towns from which the employees come.

Hendrickx told fellow commissioners that it seems that the appetite to purchase isn’t as strong as it was last year; there is more of an appetite to lease, he said.

Republican Tony Cornish, chair of the state House’s Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee, seems to have more of an appetite for a lease, Hendrickx said. The lease doesn’t require the big upfront dollar amount a purchase would, he said.

Minnesota Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton, who has not looked at any use of the Appleton prison favorably, still has indicated he leans toward a purchase if it is done.

For the Appleton area, whether it is a lease or a purchase, it is the jobs that are important, Hendrickx said. But it is also important that the agreement that is reached whether a purchase or a lease shows a commitment to use the facility for the long term to ensure job stability, Hendrickx said. [emphasis added]

Unintentional humor? The story is filed under Death Notices. It's also clear from Commissioner Hendrickx that for Swift County, this thrust isn't about overcrowding or concern for the inmates, as was claimed during the session, but jobs.

[Miller] did manage to snag some campaign cash from Corrections Corporation of America's executives and their spouses, as well as from a couple of CCA corporate lobbyists. From his pre-general election report to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (available here):

All that money must be smooth as Tennessee whiskey for blunting the blow of rejection by Swift County's finest news source (We're not being snarly about the Monitor, whose editor is highly respected among country newspaper people).

Screenshot: We're not sure if the Swift County Monitor wanted to file this story under the obits.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

A former oil company executive from Minnesota has been ordered to repay $6.5 million in "ill-gotten gains," plus a fine and accrued interest, in the wake of a stock manipulation scheme involving a North Dakota oil loading facility for which he and business associates reaped an estimated $32 million.

An Oct. 31 order from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission puts Michael L. Reger on the hook for nearly $8 million for his involvement with Dakota Plains Holdings, a Minnesota company that owns the oil terminal in New Town in northwest North Dakota.

Reger must repay investors a $6.5 million "disgorgement," a term for funds that were received through illegal or unethical business transactions. He was also ordered to pay $669,365 in interest, plus a $750,000 fine.

In a separate action, the SEC charged Reger's former business partner, Ryan Gilbertson, in the stock manipulation scheme, for allegedly orchestrating an elaborate scheme to siphon millions of dollars from Dakota Plains Holdings Inc. Two others have also been charged in the stock manipulation case.

For Reger, 40, the SEC's action represents a staggering blow to a once promising career. His family has been involved in the oil and gas business since the 1930s. In 2012 and 2013, Forbes named Reger one of "America's Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under." He received widespread recognition for the company's success as Bakken oil production soared.

Last August Reger was terminated as chief executive from Northern Oil and Gas Inc., a Wayzata, Minn., company which he co-founded in 2006. His firing came soon after Reger told company officials that he had received notice from the SEC that he was the target of an investigation for securities violations. . . .

SEC investigators concluded that Reger acted negligently in failing to disclose his ownership and control of Dakota Plains. Federal securities law prohibits a person to offer securities while attempting to mislead or commit fraud on the purchaser.

Meanwhile, investors of Northern Oil and Gas Inc. have filed a class-action lawsuit, naming the company, Reger and interim CEO Thomas Stoelk as defendants. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, accuses Reger and other company officials of unethical and illegal activities while managing the energy company. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, in addition to costs and attorney's fees.

The company also gave $25,000 directly to the Minnesotan Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund PAC on August 15, 2014 (p. 6, year end report). That's at least $25,000 and perhaps as much $50,000 of good Bakken crude flowing into Minnesota politics for independent expenditures.

It's hard not to envision at least some of that oozing into the hands of the venders MJC chair (now House Majority executive director) Ben Golnik hired to craft $58,640 worth of attacks against DFL state representative Melissa Hortman in House District 36B (page 18, year end report).

After all, in the 2013-2014 session when the DFL held the majority in the Minnesota House, the Brooklyn Park Democrat chaired the Energy Policy Committee, helping to shepherd through clean energy policy.

Northern Oil and Gas Inc Chair and CEO Micheal Reger also gave big to the HRCC, the campaign committee for Minnesota House Republicans. Reger dropped $10,000 into the HRCC kitty on October 14, 2014, (p. 48 year end report) after giving the committee $25,000.00 on December 31, 2013 (p. 26 year-end report), or $35,000 for the cycle.

He was also generous in 2014 to individual Republican state representatives and challengers campaigns, as well as Republican Attorney General candidate Scott Newman (all information via the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's searchable database):

That's $18,000 more total to Minnesota House Republican candidates. Add that to the $35,000 to the HRCC and the $25,000 to the MJC, Reger & Company gave $78,000 to help flip the chamber, and possibly $25,000 more via the RSLC.

Those checks that helped flip the Minnesota House in 2014 were drawn from some hard-working North Dakota oil money, if we're to believe those scallywags at the federal Security and Exchange Commission.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Bluestem's new home gets its electrical from an electrical cooperative, like the homes and businesses of many Greater Minnesotans. Some of our power as co-op members is in danger of dimming.

From our friends at Clean Up the River Environment (CURE), a grassroots rural environmental organization based in Montevideo, Minnesota:

Local control of electricity is under attack.

Basin Electric, an energy supplier for many co-ops across Minnesota and the Dakotas, is attempting take away co-op members ability to negotiate with local clean energy producers. This would put massive limitations on local control of clean energy in the future.

We can't let this happen.

Basin has attempted to keep their move under wraps from the general public and co-op members. They've given limited time for input and the little information made available is relatively inaccessible. Our local distribution cooperatives and Basin are responsible to us, co-op member owners. This action by Basin is not in the best interest of local co-op members, nor does it follow the cooperative principles for democratic control.

Tell Basin to follow the cooperative principles!

Questions: Questions can be directed to Erik Hatlestad, Energy Program Associate at CURE. Erik can be reached at erik@cureriver.org.

There's more here on the CURE website:

Electric cooperatives were founded in the spirit of America: democratic, local control. Since the early 1900’s rural Americans have bonded together in cooperative enterprise to address community and economic issues themselves and to wrest economic control from absentee corporate elites.

However, these democratic ideals have been sidelined.

In many states within Basin Electric’s service territory, electric cooperatives are subject to limited regulation. The assumption is that members self-regulate through the democratic control of their utilities. For some time now co-ops have moved in an undemocratic direction that marginalizes members in their own organizations. Not only has the flow of information been restricted so members cannot have meaningful input in the overall governance of their local cooperative, but the ability for members to participate in distributed clean energy generation has been strategically impeded.

There is no better example of the thwarting of member inclusion than the process surrounding the Joint PURPA Implementation Plan and the document itself.

The Cooperative Principles call for:

Voluntary and Open Membership

Democratic Member Control

Member's Economic Participation

Autonomy and Independence

Education, Training, and Information

Cooperation Among Cooperatives

Concern for Community

Many of Basin’s distribution co-ops have done little to educate their members on the implications of surrendering local control and their local co-op’s rights under PURPA. Many Basin co-ops have not published information on the action in their local monthly newsletters and the implementation plan has received virtually no media attention. Beyond educating member owners of the actions of the utility that they (in theory) are in control over, members have not been given a reasonable opportunity to provide input in this comment making process. . .

If you're a member of a power co-op, check out the rest at CURE.

Photo: A picture of modern power in Greater Minnesota, via CURE.

Help CURE do its great rural work: Ordinarily, Bluestem asks for donations for our work at the end of posts. Today, we'd like to encourage readers to support the work of a genuinely rural, grassroots group that works for our landscapes, water, quality or life and values.

I wonder why McNamar goes to the metro for his campaign funding. Surely he must know that they expect favors back from him. . . . How can you have your slogan as a “voice for rural Minnesota” and go to the metro for your funding? You cannot.

If the Backer backer was serious about that Q & A, Bluestem hopes her head doesn't explode when she learns of a Republican House fundraiser in the metro that also raises the spectre of Kurt Daudt's caucus enlisting on the wrong side in the War On Christmas.

Yes. The HRCC is having a fundraiser in the metro for the entire caucus!

Bluestem dipped into the Fundraising Calendar that the Messerli and Kramer* website maintains for government affairs professionals (known to us in the sticks as "lobbyists") to look for opportunities that might be afforded to these passionate paid advocates to grease the wheels of power for their clients.

Imagine how shocked our tender rural souls were to discover--on the Monday after the First Sunday of Advent, no less--a Republican "Holiday Party." Here's the text:

HRCC Holiday Fundraiser

Event Date and Time:

November 30th, 2016 - 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Event Location:

Town & Country Club300 N Mississippi River BlvdSt. Paul 55104 United States

Description:

Please Join Speaker Kurt Daudt, Majority Leader Joyce Peppin and Members of the House Republican Caucus

For Our Annual Holiday Celebration

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Town & Country Club

300 N Mississippi River Blvd

St. Paul, MN

GOLD SPONSOR: $5,000 includes three tickets for dinner and four tickets to the Main Reception

SILVER SPONSOR: $2,500 includes two tickets for dinner and four tickets to the Main Reception

BRONZE SPONSOR: $1,500 includes one ticket for dinner and four tickets to the Main Reception

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

But it's hard to pin down one story to let you know how valuable CURE (Clean Up The River Environment) is for those of us who live in the Upper Valley of the Minnesota and the rest of the state.

Does "the" story start with sitting in a Lutheran church in Granite Falls with hundreds of other local people while polar explorer Will Steger leads a discussion of climate change?

Or is it gathering in the CURE office while lawmakers field questions about pollinator policy from rural people ranging from farmers to sportsmen who've seen bee and butterfly populations drop?

Or breaking bread a big potluck at the Watson Town Hall where everybody from young, beginning farmers to a state legislator stress the need to save a practical sustainable food production education program at a community and technical college in the watershed? There was local music there and art, along with the local food and young families eager to farm.

Is it a discussion in a Renville County community center about what a water charter might look like, in which people who started the meeting as strangers bond over their shared concerns, regardless of their age or political persuasion?

Paddling down the LeSueur River to its confluence with the Blue Earth, after listening to farmers, residents and a county commissioner talk about their river? Or walking on a sandbar near Sacred Heart while a young Native American girl educates me about river mussels and river health?

There are more episodes that come to mind, but the common river that runs through my memory is conversation and a common belief that ordinary people can make a difference. We hear a lot these days about paying attention to rural folks. I feel blessed to have been in the room so many times when CURE has created a space for conversation and action meant to clean up the river environment.

Bluestem Prairie encourages our readers to give to Montevideo-based Clean Up The River Environment (CURE), a rural, grassroots nonprofit founded in 1992, with the goal to rescue and restore the Upper Valley of the Minnesota River. On its Give To The Max Day webpage, CURE describes itself:

CURE is a rural, grassroots nonprofit founded in 1992. Our mission is to protect and restore resilient rural landscapes by harnessing the power of citizens who care about them. We do this because we believe that robust human communities can only be sustained by healthy ecosystems, and robust natural environments can only be regained through vigorous stewardship.

That sounds a bit abstract, but CURE's work is anything but that out here on the prairie and the watersheds that connect us to the rest of the world. Please give to this tremendous organization and its vital work with rural people and communities.

And after talking at a town hall about how Corrections Corporation of American had offered to sell the prison for $99 million, Miller washed himself of that stiff price tag (when a constituent challenged the figure as way high) by saying that legislators aren't involved in negotiations.

We will voice our support for Democrats Andrew Falk running for the Minnesota House seat in District 17A and for DFL Sen. Lyle Koenen in Senate District 17. We side with these candidates because we believe they are willing to make the best case for the need for Minnesota to invest more in rural economic development, more in education, and more in our infrastructure. We also believe they will figure out the best way to fix our broken health insurance programs with the aim of ensuring that thousands aren’t again left without insurance.

Republicans have consistently argued to lower spending in these areas.CCA

He did manage to snag some campaign cash from Corrections Corporation of America's executives and their spouses, as well as from a couple of CCA corporate lobbyists. From his pre-general election report to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (available here):

All that money must be smooth as Tennessee whiskey for blunting the blow of rejection by Swift County's finest news source (We're not being snarly about the Monitor, whose editor is highly respected among country newspaper people).

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

The NARF dropped "a combined $30,000 to help commercial realtor Scott Hoss unseat an incumbent, and to re-elect city council president Randy Staver," Richter reports.

With development anticipated to blossom as Rochester's DMC (Destination Medical Center) rams up, it's not hard to ascertain the national group's purpose in spending on candidates it believes will help members' business interests.

But what's the stake in North Mankato, population estimated 13,529 in 2015?

Hagen said the he disagreed with the 10 percent rental-per-block ordinance, a position spelled out on his website in the post, 10 Percent Rental Rule:

Recently the City of North Mankato established a new rental cap of 10%. I proposed an alternative to the city that was based on clear rules and strong enforcement, but the city chose to not even discuss it. . . .

The rental rules in North Mankato are definitely in need of change, all agree to that, but what really needs changing is the way in which North Mankato City Government involves citizens in the decision making process. Many of us, as concerned citizens, believe that non-compliant landlords and tenants should be made to answer for their actions, but that the city should not paint all tenants and landlords with the same broad brush. The involvement of concerned citizens in the process of government is helpful to the process. No one has all the answers , but by working together we can come to better solutions to challenging issues. . . .

Read the entire post on the blog. Hagen assumed his public opposition to the rule caught the PAC's eye; he stressed that although his objections to the new rule stemmed from a concern for property rights, he also was in agreement with the American Civic Liberty Union's assessment of the ordinance.

Some took issue with the cap's 10 percent threshold, while others worried the cap would cause rents to rise and rental options to become scarce. And some were concerned with the way city officials conducted its public meetings on the cap issue.

Many of them spoke out at a public hearing in opposition to the cap.

"The problem lies in the zoning codes and the land use regulations," said Matthias Leyrer.

Leyrer, a City Council candidate who blogs on urban planning and architecture, believed the council's decision would negatively affect the local housing market.

He wasn't the only one. Local realtors representing the Realtors Association of Southern Minnesota Board of Directors publicly opposed the cap, as did a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.

"We see that historically these initiatives, these ordinances, have been used to exclude minorities in cities or neighborhoods," said Julio Zelaya, a coordinator of ACLU's Greater Minnesota Racial Justice Project. . . .

Mayoral candidate Tom Hagen, who has had issues in the past with the city of North Mankato over its handling of noise complaints, took the city to task for the way city officials handled the rental density cap issue. While the public meetings were open to everyone, city officials only mailed meeting notices to property owners.

"You need to get the citizens of this community involved in this process, everyone who's here, and come up with a reasonable process that works for all of us," he said.

You may have been sent to my website by a mailer that was sent by the National Realtors Association. In small type on that mailer, you will see that it says the mailer was not mailed by direction of the candidates. I would like to restate this. This mailer was sent without my knowledge as per campaign finance laws.

While I am very grateful that a group that promotes home ownership and works with property owners of all types have endorsed me, I want to make two things very clear:

I did not know about this mailer, nor did I ask or suggest that it be sent on my behalf in any way.

This does not mean that my vote is for sale. Period.

If you hear anyone talking about me trading my vote to the realtors association to overturn a ordinance or anything of the sort, please have them reach out to me. I would be happy to talk.

Bluestem hopes that voters understand that both candidates had nothing to do with the mail piece--which fortunately isn't a nasty attack on the others running for the same offices.

That being said, we are nonetheless discouraged to see a national organization's spending reaching down this level. Both candidates speak to the need to engage local citizens in them local government processes; this is a fine goal.

Big national PAC dimes clanging? Not so much. Unfortunately, in the era of Citizens United (oh the irony) little can be done to make Hagen's and Leyrer's voices stand out to voters rather than mail from absentee interests.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

The contributions mirror those the committee, described on its website as a " the largest caucus of Republican state leaders in the country and the only national organization whose mission is to elect down-ballot, state-level Republican officeholders," contributed to the MJCLF in 2014. During 2014, the RLSC sent the Republican front group a total of $355,000 (Amendment 3).

Here's the notice, downloaded from the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board's website:

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Adams Publishing Group announced today that it intends to purchase ECM Publishers Inc., founded by former Gov. Elmer L. Andersen, which is one of the largest publishers of weekly newspapers in the country.

ECM has 50 individual publications reaching more than 600,000 households across central Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

“We are excited to welcome the ECM associates to our APG team in Minnesota,” said APG Chairman Stephen Adams. “Our company is headquartered here, and my family has a long newspaper history in the state of Minnesota. ECM has done a fine job navigating through difficult times, and producing the highest quality print and digital products. We commend them for their efforts, and wish the Andersen family the best in their future endeavors.” . . .

A billionaire backing Donald Trump is taking advertising into his own hands.

Stephen Adams, a billboard magnate who made his fortune in a half-dozen different business ventures over the last five decades, is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a pro-Trump campaign. Yet it is not the Trump campaign or a Trump super PAC that is spending over $650,000 to boost the Republican nominee -- it is Adams himself, who his buying his own billboards in a set of swing states.

It is an unusual purchase and a throwback to a previous era when the wealthy had close to unfettered control over how their dollars were spent. Adams disclosed the spending this week in independent expenditure reports almost always filed by political action committees or nonprofits, rather than individuals: $150,000 in North Carolina, $200,000 in Pennsylvania and $300,000 in Michigan.

That is not a trivial amount of money, given the long struggles of Trump high-dollar efforts. If donated to a PAC -- staffed by professional operatives and fundraisers -- Adams would instantly become one of Trump's top donors.

But Adams is hanging a shingle.

"Mr. Adams is a long-time supporter of, and contributor to, the Republican Party," said an Adams aide, Rich Zecchino. "He has contributed these advertisements to the presidential campaign in furtherance of that historical support."

The digital billboards produced by his company, Adams Outdoor Advertising, are not flashy, with simple white text reading "For the people" overlayed on a navy background accompanied with an American flag. The bottom reads "Trump Pence 2016" in bold. And it is not the first time that Adams has gone outside the normal campaign finance system to support his chosen candidate. A Republican donor for decades, Adams financed similar billboard campaigns in 2000 and 2004, federal election records show, spending $1 million each cycle in order, when asked on federal forms for the purpose of his independent expenditure, "to win election." . . .

A search of the Open Secrets database reveals Stephen Adams had contributed $1,008,982 in Independent Expenditures, Communication Costs and Coordinated Expenses for Republicans as of October 26, 2016.

None of the billboards appears to have been sighted in Minnesota, additional evidence that this isn't a swing state.

And here The Donald and his supporters whine about media bias. Perhaps Mr. Adams' giving at the top will cancel Mr. Hubbard's reluctance to support Trump, although his down ticket largesse to the pachyderm party is impressive as ever.

A native of Adrian, MN, Cedric Adams was "the 'best known voice' in the upper Midwest" from the 1930s through the 1950s, according to his own Wikipedia entry, and the radio celebrity's newspaper column carried in 20 papers marks the family's "long newspaper history in the state of Minnesota."

The rest of the family's "newspaper history" is of relatively recent origin, according to articles published by local venues in Ohio and Maryland upon the firm's acquisition of local papers. In 2014, Jim Phillips of the Athens News reported in Local daily gets swept up in massive media sale:

A little over six years after it was bought by a Texas-based newspaper chain on behalf of an Australian mega-bank, The Athens Messenger has been sold again.

The buyer this time is the corporate persona of a multi-millionaire (some say billionaire), whose business background is in billboards, banks, retail stores, RVs, magazines and direct marketing; who is new to newspapers; and who reportedly likes to dabble in music and French vineyards.

The purchase, which was announced with almost no fanfare on the part of the buyer, is part of a much bigger deal involving a total of 34 print publications, special print products, digital media assets and commercial printing facilities, according to a report (apparently based on a news release) posted by Editor & Publisher magazine March 14.

Adams Publishing Group LLC (APG) - apparently principally owned by 76-year-old private equity investor Stephen Adams - has announced it is buying three newspaper divisions from American Consolidated Media (ACM), which had owned The Messenger and other regional papers including the Logan Daily News. . . .

Online information about APG was initially difficult to find, but once the connection with private equity capitalist Stephen Adams was confirmed, it became quite a lot easier. There's quite a bit of biographical and background information available on Adams and his enterprises, including a complete Wikipedia entry and another in Bloomburg BusinessWeek.

A story that ran last Friday in Maryland's CecilTimes, a small news outlet that covers the same community as the Cecil Whig, one of the newspapers in the new APG Media of Chesapeake company, noted that one thing "unusual" for such a large media buyout was "the total absence of any comment by the purchaser - only comments from regional executives of the sellers, ACM, were included in the local newspaper's published reports." . . .

Does the relatively new owners' conservative bent influence the coverage in the three groups of acquired papers themselves? Given the legendary heavy hand of the conservative Huckle family on the southern Minnesota papers--and Hanna's axe-grinding that's as certain as the northern snows, we're not sure how anyone could tell.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

We putzed around with the landing page, replacing Backer's name with other legislators' names--and when we entered Minnesota House Ag Finance Chair Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake and Ag Policy Vice Chair Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, we got a goose egg--but also a search engine box. Typing in no name at all produced this list:

Will additional names and landing pads be added? Or are these few House members the only ones the AgFood Alliance has scraped up the money for? The property tax and vague rural job creation message seems like a meager meal, but with corn and bean prices being what they are, perhaps that's all the AgFood had to go around.

Of course, the political fund and ads are totally separate from the nonprofit, so independent expenditures asking voters to pick one candidate over another can't be any sort of ethical problem at all. We wait for the end of the month release of the pre-general report to the campaign finance board to see where Perry scrounged up the cash for these online ads (and whatever else he bought) to help these poor indigent legislators keep their jobs.

Screengrab: Austin area Democrat Jeanne Poppe is the only Democrat so far on the AgFood clickable ad landing page site--and the only non-freshman on the group's list so far. Poppe, seeking her seventh term, is the DFL lead on the Ag Finance committee.

Republicans? Daniels and Miller serve on the Ag Finance committee; Backer is on Ag Policy; Baker represents a swing district in a tight race (much like Daniels, Backer and Miller).

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Oct 24, 2016

The Minnesota Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund's September pre-general campaign finance report and disclosure statements made clear that the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) contributed two checks totaling $175,000 to the MNGOP front group.

Where did the RSLC get the money? We embed its third quarter 8872 report for 2016 to the IRS below. Of most interest? On page 11, there's a $50,000 contribution from Hubbard Broadcasting. Corporations are not allowed to give directly to candidates under Minnesota campaign finance law, so it's neat that a major media enterprise found a way around that obstacle.

Hubbard Broadcasting owns television and radio stations across Minnesota, so we'll probably have to check the MJC reports to see how many of the Minnesota Jobs Coalition television and radio attack ads have been placed with the corporation (also neat to cycle those dollars back to the corporation if this is so)

Photo: The Hubbard Broadcasting corporate headquarters building in St. Paul, Minnesota, with the SkyMax 5 tower in the background. by MarkTraceur (Creative Commons license, via Wikipedia).

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Should Miller's supporters fret about whether any money from this federal committee with all of it corporate givers trickle down to humble Prinsburg? In the October 2014 filing, $22058.39 in Disbursement for Allocated Federal/Nonfederal Activity was spent on administrative costs, so not definitely not directly.

Regardless, if Republicans in West Central Minnesota are concerned about federal campaign committees, they don't have to look beyond their own house caucus to find a little moneypot.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Sep 11, 2016

While Greater Minnesota House Republican caucus members have made an issue of fundraisers held in the metro for DFL challengers, Bluestem has noticed that they themselves aren't shy about taking a bit of that sweet metro honey themselves.

Take this coming Thursday's fundraiser for state representative and powerful chair of the Minnesota House Ways and Means chair Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, in the heart of cake-eater country, hosted by members of the Republican urban elite. (Invite above).

Jim Knoblach's race is key to Republicans maintaining control of the Minnesota House.Your support is needed!

Leading the list of co-hosts? Former Republican Party of Minnesota finance committee chair and current Senior Vice President at 21st Century Fox Bill Guidera, a west metro conservative fixture. A Fox News contributor Pete Hegseth looks to be doing another meet-and-greet book signing.

Imagine an equivalent fundraiser for DFL challengers or incumbents. Greater Minnesota Republicans from Red Wing to Browns Valley would yip like coyotes for weeks about the metro-centric crew to whom the Democrat would owe her or his allegiances. We would fear for our chickens.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

The Republican State Leadership Committee gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the MN Jobs Coalition in 2014 to flip control of the Minnesota House from Democratic to Republican hands--and vowed in July 2015 to do the same thing for the state senate in 2016.

It's time to take a look at the Q2 report, due July 15, to look for clues on how that's going. Here are the itemized contributions from Minnesota:

This giving from Minnesota contributors supplements that we reported in June:

What's in it for Minnesota? On page 9, the "Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus" gave $100 in January, while page 11 lists a $100 contribution by the same in February. (Since the CFB server is down, we can't check to see if this is from the Senate Victory Fund ). [Update: this expenditure not listed in the SVF's Q1 and Q2 reports].

Where in Minnesota was the RSLC spending in the second quarter (April though June)? Here's a pdf of the items--bills for conference calls and direct marketing paid to Republican fundraising and marketing firm, FLS Connect.

If the Republican State Leadership Committee intends to give to the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, its political fund or other political committees and IE funds to flip the Minnesota Senate and retain the House, apparently that spending will come in the third and fourth quarters. The Q3 filing (for getting and spending in July, August and September) is due on October 15.

Other bonbons in the report

The biggest contributor to the RSLC is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce And Related Entities/Institute for Legal Reform, which had given $2,450,235 as of June 30, 2016.

Other big contributors come from the noisy set of drug companies, railroads, energy interests and payday lenders the martyrs call the world. Here's the entire 103-page Form 8872 filing, where our readers can perform Adam's curse, doing the work of reading for themselves.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

The piece equates the freedom to marry the person one loves with the ability to marry a German Shepherd, the notion that immigration reform would take Social Security away from those who paid into it, and other non sequiturs that would be comic, save for the fact that they're presented as "accurate."

Among Republican friends, Bennett shares what she thinks of her Democratic constituents (transcript of audio below as Bennett reads the list, while providing her own side commentary; Bluestem has placed the latter in bold). Her remarks begin with the reading of the list, so we're not sure how she introduced this loving (but definitely not-Letterman) portrait of the loyal opposition:

I vote Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I can even marry my German Shepherd.

Number 9 I vote Democrat because I believe oil companies profits are 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon 15% is not.

Number 8, I vote Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending money I earned than I would. Let me tell you, I heard that over and over again when I was sitting on the floor last year. You're not spending enough, we have a surplus, they would spend it all over time

Number 7, I vote Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

Number 6, I vote Democrat because I'm way to irresponsible to own a gun and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves, I'm also thankful that I have a 9-1-1 service that gets the police to your home in order to identify your body after a home invasion.

Number 5, I vote Democrat because I'm not concerned about billions of babies being aborted, so long as we can keep Death Row inmates alive and comfy.

Number 4, I vote Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free healthcare, education, and social security benefits and we should take away social security benefits from those who paid into it.

Number 3, I vote Democrat because businesses should not be allowed make profits for themselves, they need to break even and give the rest to away to the government for redistribution as the Democratic Party sees fit.

Number 2, I vote Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to re-write the constitution every few days to see the fringe groups who would never get their agenda's past the voters. And last but not least,

Number 1, I vote Democrat because I think it's better to take pay billions of dollars in oil to people who hate us, but not drill our own oil because it might upset some endangered beetle, gopher, or fish here in America. We don't care about beetles, gophers, or fish in the oil countries, just as long as they're in America. So there ya go, the top ten reasons to Vote Democrat.

Here's the audio:

Perhaps Kurt Daudt can let Bennett know that Minnesota doesn't have a Death Row--or perhaps one shouldn't sweat the details when choosing to let hyper-partisanship all hang out.

Is it wise to mock Democrats in Minnesota House District 27A?

Revealing her sarcastically nasty partisan side might not be the wisest move for the retired elementary teacher and freshman state lawmaker, since the swing district includes a lot of Democratic voters. In 2014, US Senator Al Franken received 54.06 percent of the vote; Congressman Tim Walz earned 59.47 percent; Governor Dayton and Lt. Gov. Smith received a plurality of 49.84 percent, and so on.

On the other hand voters selected three Republican-endorsed candidates, including state Supreme Court Justice candidate Michelle MacDonald, Secretary of State wannabe Dan Severson and Bennett. Her first term incumbent opponent, Shannon Savick, stumbled badly in the race.

The district swung more heavily Democratic in the 2012 presidential year, election results reveal. President Barack Obama captured 55.37 percent of the vote, while United States Senator Amy Klobuchar and Walz crushed with 68.32 percent and 63.80 percent respectively. State senator Dan Sparks--on the ballot again this year--nabbed 67.00 percent of the vote, while Savick received 47.70 percent of the vote in the three-way race to defeat one-term incumbent Rich Murray.

The district has historically been a swing district, and in 2014 more than $377,000 in independent expenditures were reported for [and against] Bennett and DFLer Shannon Savick of Wells in the 10 months leading up to the election.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

The videos never explicitly say "Vote for" Barb, Dave or Jim (or Roz, Randy and Chad), so these online ads aren't considered independent expenditures spent to get Dave, Jim, Roz and Chad re-elected or sweep Barb and Randy into office.

Right-o!

"Issue advocacy": "Join Dave Baker" so doesn't imply you should vote for him!

BATC’s Housing First Network recently launched the next phase of its issue advocacy campaign, Think Local. Following up on our issue advocacy campaign to thank housing champion leaders, Think Local promotes local prioritization of homes, which we know create and tie communities together. Much of the news and public conversation looks at national and international issues. While these are very important, the HF Network is asking the public to think about the benefits a strong housing market provides for our local communities.

The local leaders featured in the Think Local campaign are local elected officials and candidates for elected office that have demonstrated support for strong communities and a strong housing market. Election years are times for public discussion and consideration of priorities. As an issue advocacy campaign, Think Local encourages everyone to consider the local impacts of housing, and to support keeping homes affordable for Minnesota families.

How local is the copy in these digital ads? So far, we've found two boilerplates, one that's 30 seconds, and the second that's 15 seconds or so:

Representative [Name] is a leader who thinks local. In the [Town Name] area, our community is made up of families, schools, and businesses all tied together by our homes and neighborhoods. Like the many growing families in our neighborhoods, [Name] raised [his/her] family in our community. [He/She] knows that the best way to build the american [sic] dream is by creating better communities to live in. Join [Name] in thinking local, learn more at HousingFirstNetwork.org.

You just can't think any more local than that. They're not place-baiting, we can say that for them.

Nonpartisan spending like you've never seen it before!

Update August 19: the Builders Association of the Twin Cities has announced its endorsements in a blog post, BATC’s Housing First PAC Endorses Legislative Candidates on August 19, three days after this post was first published on August 16. Three of the endorsees are suburban DFLers: 7th term Brooklyn Park Mike Nelson, first-term Edina senator Melisa Franzen, and Lakeville DFL senate candidate Matt Little, running in the open seat created by the retirement of state senator Dave Thompson. We'll look to see if any Local Think shows up online for the DFLers. A search of Youtube didn't yield any BATC/Housing First videos for these candidates. [end update]

Though not a partisan entity, Housing First prioritized flipping the House to a pro-housing majority as its top objective for the 2014 election cycle, a goal proudly achieved. Housing First vetted candidates and spent countless hours over the past six months managing a campaign that would propel pro-housing and pro-business candidates into office. We now plan to work carefully with these candidates and friends who were elected to build a pro-housing caucus at the Capitol.

What's fascinating here is the contrast between the five flipped districts where Housing First spent money in 2014 and the seven districts where Housing First Republican candidates failed in a GOP year.

In the 2014 CFB report, there's also the thrilling local spend on video and ad place at Larry John Wright Advertising in Mesa, AZ, though it warmed our cold prairie hearts to see Weber Johnson getting its fair share of the fund's bucks. It's good to keep some of these dollars in the state.

If you've seen one Housing First Video, you've seen them all

Here are two Think Local videos for your enjoyment. The b-roll images change, along with the names of the Republicans and the towns, but one has to admire the metro builders' ability to stay on message:

We can only hope that the pleasant looking couple figures out which Minnesota House District they can vote in November's general election. They can "join" Dave or Barb, but not both.

Photos: screengrabs from Barb and Dave's videos.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

I recently received a letter from State Rep. Jeff Backer that included slurs against “Minneapolis liberals,” “St. Paul liberals” and “homosexual activists” and “Metro Jay” referencing Jay McNamar, an Elbow Lake resident who grew up in Ada.

Like Trump, Backer fails to grasp the fact that we are all in this together. Differing politics, differing regions, differing religions, differing orientations need to be treated as humans, part of our communities and part of our state. Demonizing Americans and Minnesotans leads to the gridlock we all abhor. America stands for respecting differences, not disenfranchising half of this State. In the last campaign a huge infusion of outstate money funded an almost daily dose of glossy hate mail over the last month against McNamar. Now, his letter full of nothing more than name calling, continues sowing division.

So it seems like the question this fall will be Backer’s gridlock and division, or McNamar‘s acknowledgement of one district and one state.

Here are photos of the front and back of the letter Boole takes issue with:

f you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Miller's actual history on education funding is a much less rosy story (more on this later in the post), and two of the photos on the postcard might be telling us more about Miller's priorities than the Coalition of Minnesota Businesses knows.

What were Tim Miller's photos really about?

Looking at the photos on the right of the card (image embedded below), Bluestem thought we'd seen them before and were puzzled why any graphic designer would place them on mail piece touting a lawmaker's education record.

Thanks to Kim Gorans (Gorans Farms) and George Rehm (Discovery Farms) for discussing with Torrey Westrom and me the challenges of animal ag here in WC MN. They did amazing research on water runoff.

The Discovery Farms Minnesota program is funded by grants provided by the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council, Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council, and Minnesota Turkey Research and Promotion Council to the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resources Center (MAWRC). The Minnesota Department of Agriculture "provides Clean Water Funding for monitoring equipment and technical staff," according to the program's website, while the also has received a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Whatever the nature of the water runoff related to animal ag that the gentlemen discussed in this campaign photo, the photo doesn't illustrate Miller's alleged devotion to pre-K-12 and post-secondary education or providing more money for public education.

Here's the screengrab:

The second photo is likewise devoted to an ag topic, rather than education. On May 5, 2015, a photo of Representative Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, Miller, Governor Mark Dayton, and Representative Dave Baker was posted on the Miller campaign Facebook page with the following caption:

This photo was snapped at another non-education funding event, the GOP Rural Caucus's free turkey burger cookout at the height of Minnesota's 2015 avian flu pandemic. The free food was intended to make consumers confident that the nasty, turkey-destroying disease wasn't a threat to people who ate turkey.

In the 2015 legislative session, Tim Miller and his House Republican colleagues did not fight for $500 million in increased education funding. The Republican majority’s education finance bill that Tim Miller voted for did not even keep pace with inflation. Had Tim Miller had his way, it would have led to teacher layoffs and would have short-changed our schools and particularly our pre-schools.

At the end of the legislative session, Governor Dayton vetoed the education finance bill. He sent it back to the legislature stating that his approval required a real investment in our schools. Due to Tim Miller’s actions, we were forced to pay for a costly special legislative session; which brought us about a week away from a government shutdown. Governor Dayton fought for and won this increased funding in the special session education finance bill despite Tim Miller; not because of Tim Miller . . .

Just before the vote on the soon-to-be-vetoed bill, the Mankato Times reported:

Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, added an amendment (HF 1546) Student Physical Privacy Act, which passed by voice vote, to require students to use the bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms appropriate to their birth gender, following a recent Minnesota State High School League policy change.

Authored by Rep. Jennifer Loon (R- Eden Prairie) House File 844 would increase state funding for Early Learning and K-12 programs by $157 million – less than 1% over current levels – in order to accommodate House Republicans’ goal of lowering taxes by $2 billion. This is the lowest figure among two other proposals by the DFL led Senate and Governor Mark Dayton.

The Senate has proposed $350 million in new spending; Dayton has proposed an additional $695 million, most of which would be for his top priority of offering universal preschool for all 4-year-olds in the state. . . .

The DFL says that [the bill's] overall 1.2 percent increase to the state’s per-pupil funding formula is too small and doesn’t keep up with inflation. As a result, they say it will force schools to cut programs, increase class sizes and force the layoffs of teachers.

They also say that projections show that changes to Early Learning Scholarships contained in H.F. 844 would lead to a 41% decrease in the number of students being served by the program. The bill raises the state’s school funding formula by .6% and caps future funds aimed at students most at risk of falling behind in school.

With the date and content of an upcoming special session still unsettled, the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton did reveal significant agreement on the next Minnesota budget on Friday. . . .

The final bill is closer to the nearly $700 million in new money Dayton wanted than the $150 million House Republicans initially proposed.

“It’s worth it, $125 million for the extra few weeks,” said Sen. Charles Wiger, DFL-Maplewood, Senate Education Committee chair. “When you look at where the House started, I’m pleased. I admire the governor’s tenacity.”

More than half the new money, $350 million, will go toward increasing by 2 percent a year the per pupil funding formula schools use for general operations. The base per-student funding schools receive will grow from $5,831 this year to $6,067 in 2017. School officials said increasing that funding was among their top priorities this year. . . .

The final bill also includes several policy changes, including streamlining the process for licensing teachers. It does not include controversial changes to teacher seniority rules for layoffs or a requirement that transgender students use bathrooms based on their sex at birth. Republicans had pushed for those provisions.

The bathroom language was Miller's contribution, not the "historic" increase in funding. That came from Dayton and the DFL.

An omnibus education bill with $56 million in additional funding for E-12 education and no funding for higher education passed the House Monday, 84-46. Rep. Jim Knoblach (R-St. Cloud) sponsors HF2749, which he said will also serve as the overarching supplemental budget bill for the House.

With zero budget targets for E-12 and higher education, most of the bill’s funding comes from a provision allowing school districts to repay and refinance high-interest state “maximum effort” loans. The funding targets “critical needs” of school districts, including $16.8 million to address teacher shortages, said Rep. Jenifer Loon (R-Eden Prairie), who chairs the House Education Finance Committee.

Despite the bill’s funding for teacher workforce development, rural broadband and a variety of other programs, House leadership’s zero targets for education drew strong criticism by DFLers — as did several of the bill’s policy provisions.

Minnesota will spend more money on broadband access, preschool education and combating racial disparities under a supplemental budget signed Wednesday by Gov. Mark Dayton.

The budget adds $300 million in spending to Minnesota’s $42 billion two-year budget, which lawmakers passed in 2015.

Dayton and legislative Democrats had pushed hard for up to $700 million in new spending in the bill, while Republicans proposed no new spending. . . .

Are Republicans putting students first? Pushing for more funding for schools? For more pre-kindergarten programs? That would make a cat laugh.

Perhaps that's why the Coalition for Minnesota Business couldn't find a photo on Tim Miller's campaign Facebook page that illustrated that he was actually working for those priorities.

Voters will probably never know who paid CMB for this postcard

Aside from the legislator's name and three photos related to the freshman legislator, we're told it's the same junk mail the Coalition of Minnesota Businesses mailed praising Republican incumbents in competitive races around the state, according to our source. The "non-partisan" group didn't send any mailers praising DFLers who took the same votes on education funding bills signed by the governor in 2015 and 2016.

While the CMB does have a political action committee (PAC) and this piece includes the disclaimer that the piece is "Not authorized by any candidate or any candidate committee," the postcard will count as a "issue" communication since it doesn't tell us to vote for Representative Miller in the fall and it was sent by the non-profit "grassroots" organization, not the PAC.

This practice is completely legal under current state law, though Bluestem is betting few of our neighbors see this postcard as anything other than support for Miller's re-election. We just won't know where CMB gets its money for these postcards.

If 2014 is to be the model for this year's CMB PAC spending, the "grassroots" group's PAC will get a wallet erection beginning mid-month and continuing through the general election in November. The 2014 pre-primary report listed $171.97 cash on hand, with on the September 2014 pre-general report revealing $143,000.00 coming in from other business PACs and the House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC). The HRCC contribution was $76,000.00 in in-kind polling data, which was very generous of the GOP caucus committee to give that sort of thing to a non-partisan group.

The October 2014 pre-general and the year-end filing reported showed that cash and in-kind giving to the committee jumped to $440,775.00 for the year--much to independent expenditures ($342,139.42).

As of the 2016 pre-primary report, the PAC has $280.65 cash on hand, unchanged from the May report.

If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.